It has long been recognized that access to timely information regarding current conditions in the various financial and commodities markets is essential to successful and profitable trading and investment. This is particularly true in today's fast-moving markets where the ability to respond rapidly to changing market conditions within minutes or hours, rather than days, may mean the difference between substantial profits or devastating losses.
In addition, many complex investment strategies require precise and careful timing of specific transactions in response to fluctuating market conditions, and therefore demand timely action.
Unfortunately, it has proved largely impossible for the average investor to take maximum advantage of investments in the financial markets because of the relative inability of an individual to continuously monitor such daily fluctuations in the markets.
Although various information services, such as the stock ticker and, more recently, various computer data networks, have long existed for distributing information pertaining to daily activities in the various financial markets, such services are of little use to the average investor who does not have the time to continuously monitor the received information. As a result, large investors, and those who can afford the continuous monitoring services of investment brokers, have typically had an advantage in market investments.
Various systems have been presented in an attempt to alleviate these shortcomings and provide relevant market information to users who are not able to continuously monitor these data services. For example, Weinberg et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,835 issued FEB. 13, 1973 discloses a compact user terminal which permits an investor to personally access a data bank containing updated information regarding the present markets, without the need to contact a broker for quotes. Similarly, Lee et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,253,263, issued May 24, 1966, discloses a system for providing audio quotations to the user upon inquiry, again without requiring intervention by a broker.
Epstein, U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,268 issued June 4, 1968 provides an apparatus which improves upon the foregoing by independently accumulating data pertaining only to those particular financial transactions of interest, such as those pertaining to preselected stocks. This specialized data bank is then available to the user for "interrogation," whereby the investor may request information pertaining to the stock of interest. In addition, Epstein provides an alarm to notify the user when a preselected threshold condition is met, such as a preselected minimum or maximum trading price on a particular stock. The investor may then initiate an interrogation to obtain the relevant market information.
There are many shortcomings with such existing systems, however. For example, they each require some form of user interrogation or inquiry in order to initiate the market data transfer. Even the device of Epstein requires that the user observe the alarm indication and thereafter interrogate the unit to obtain the relevant information. This requirement for user intervention renders such prior art systems unusable by the average investor, who does not have time to continuously interrogate systems such as Weinberg et al., or to monitor an alarm output of systems such as disclosed by Epstein.
In addition, such prior art systems often require the user to have substantial specialized hardware and equipment. For example, Weinberg et al. requires that the user possess a specialized data terminal, while Epstein requires the user to have substantial information receiving and processing equipment on hand. The expense of purchasing or otherwise obtaining such specialized equipment places such systems beyond the reach of an average investor. Further, these systems are useful only when the user has immediate access to the requisite equipment, a severe limitation.
Finally, such prior art systems are limited in their utility, in that they are not adaptive to changing market conditions. For example, whereas an investor may desire to be informed of the occurrence of a first event under certain existing market conditions, other market conditions or past trends may make this data unimportant, or may make it desirable to be informed upon occurrence of some alternative event. Thus, simple data bank interrogation units and existing systems responsive to preselected criteria are of limited utility.
In view of the foregoing, it becomes an object of the present invention to provide an economical system for monitoring financial market data, and for informing investors upon occurrence of particular events or trends of interest. Specifically, it is a particular object of the present invention to provide such a method and apparatus that is amenable to use by numerous subscribers, and which requires little or no specialized equipment to be in the possession of the individual users.
A related object of the present invention is to provide an information monitoring and notification system and method for contacting the subscribing users via standard telecommunications utility equipment upon occurrence of user-selected events. A further object is to provide such a system and method for thereafter transmitting the relevant information directly to the subscriber via such standard telecommunications equipment.
Yet another object is to provide for alternative subscriber notification procedures such that the user may receive the desired information at a multiplicity of alternative locations. A related object is to provide a method and apparatus which continues to attempt notification until receiving a verification by the subscriber that the notification and information have been received.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system with adaptable parameters whereby the conditions upon which subscriber notification is initiated are responsive to the received market data and trends, according to algorithms specified by the subscriber.
In keeping with the foregoing, yet a further object is to provide for exclusive or alternative notification of a standard home computer terminal upon occurrence of the event of interest, whereby the information of interest is thereafter transmitted to the standard home computer terminal of the subscriber.
A further object is to provide such a method and apparatus which will permit the user or users to remotely contact the system and modify the parameters controlling which data is of interest, how the data is to be processed, and/or how the user is to be contacted. A related object is to provide a system which such contact may be accomplished via standard telecommunications networks.
Yet a further object is to provide such an improved method and apparatus for information monitoring and notification at a minimum of cost, and in a fashion amenable to advantageous use by a typical investor with a minimum of distraction or user intervention.
These and other advantages, objects, and features of the present invention will become apparent in light of the present specification and accompanying drawings.